Students' early experiences and university interventions - a timeline to aid undergraduate student retention

The University of Glamorgan has a policy of encouraging widening participation. However, as many universities are realising, widening the entrance gates can sometimes lead to increasing numbers leaving through the exit gates before the completion of their programme. At the University of Glamorgan, a project established in 2001 is demonstrating how interventionist policies can improve progression rates. This project involves two of the University's biggest departments and comprises of a series of timed interventions designed to support vulnerable first year students during the first semester of their studies. Typical experiences of students in UK higher education (HE) have been highlighted and mapped onto a timeline, along with the sequence of retention and support initiatives introduced at Glamorgan. It is this timeline that will be explored in the paper.